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CHAPTER XIV. 



THE SOUTHEEN COUNTIES. 



TAKING a rapid glance separately at each of the divisions 

 of the United Kingdom, will only confirm what a preli- 

 minary examination of the whole system of English rural 

 economy has already shown us. 



England proper is divided into forty counties, the ave- 

 rage area of which is about half that of one of our French 

 departments, but they are very unequal in size. But- 

 land is scarcely larger than one of our cantons, while 

 York alone is equal to two of our largest departments. 

 They are commonly divided into five groups southern, 

 eastern, midland, western, and northern. I begin with 

 the southern, the poorest of the five, because it is the first 

 which presents itself to those arriving from France. This 

 group contains seven counties. 



Landing at Dover, we enter the county of Kent. 

 French travellers are led to judge of England by the 

 country they pass through between Dover and London. 

 Kent, indeed, presents the ordinary features of English 

 landscape, and may give to a foreigner a general idea 

 of the rest of the island ; but in reality it has a character 

 peculiar to itself; and the English, more alive than we 

 are to the differences, may truly say that it forms an ex- 

 ception to all the other counties. The exceptional points 

 are everywhere visible, in the crops, the extent of the 



